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Out with the Old and in with the New, part 1

Exhibits, that is. That probably isn’t the best headline for a history blog!

The Archives and History Committee recently changed the exhibit at the Nation’s Capital Council headquarters.

After two months on exhibit, we dismantled “Badges and Biscuits.” This theme covered Girl Guide badges and product sales. It also coincided with our cookie sale and World Thinking Day (February 22).

Girl Guide Badges

The badges date to the late 1950s and early 1960s. They had originally been presented to the former Rockwood national Girl Scout camp by visiting Girl Guides. When that facility closed in 1978, GSUSA left them behind, and they made their way into our council’s collection.

I discovered them wrapped in paper and shoved in a box a few years ago, and I have been looking for an opportunity to share them.

Unfortunately, the foreign badges had been affixed to lengths of burlap with some sort of space-age polymer. I used heat, alcohol, acetone, a jackhammer, and sticks of dynamite to remove them. (OK, not the last two, but I was seriously contemplating it.)

After nearly a week, I had them all removed. I remounted them on 12″x12″ scrapbook paper so that they could fit into frames for display now and stored into scrapbook-sized envelopes after.

I was delighted with the results:

Girl Guide Biscuits

We filled one display case with the Girl Guide badges, the other was devoted to Girl Guide cookie sales. We also had some Girl Guide cookie patches to tie the theme together.

I learned a lot from Girl Guide websites and historians. I stuck largely to English-language sources, so the examples are drawn from a small number of countries.

UK and Ireland

Nope, not in the UK

British Girl Guides do not sell cookies. The Girl Guiding historians I contacted seemed quite proud of this fact.

In contrast, Irish Girl Guides only began selling packets of chocolate chip biscuits in fall 2017. Officials introduced the new program to help “change the imbalance of the number of women in decision-making position across the various sectors of society such as businesses, companies, and boardrooms around Ireland.”

Irish Cookies

Irish Girl Guides

Canada

Canadian Girl Guides have two categories of cookies (sandwich and mint). One is sold in the fall; the other in the spring.

They also have an impressive cookie badge curriculum that includes lessons on the history of their cookie sales and samples of vintage posters, cookie boxes, and other memorabilia.

Canadian Girl Guides

Australia and New Zealand

Australian Girl Guides have sold cookies for decades, but they are limited to one weekend across the entire country. Think of one mega booth sale.

Australian Girl Guide Cookies

Girl Guides in New Zealand kicked off their first biscuit sale in 1957, which grew to selling 28 million boxes per year. But March 2019 marked the last national Girl Guide biscuit sale in New Zealand. The organization plans to seek new fundraising programs for the future as biscuit sales provided one-third of its budget.

Vintage New Zealand Girl Guide poster

Keep following the Girl Scout History Project to see our latest installation!

Cheshire Forest County (UK) used to sell cookies several years ago, although not on anything like the scale that is seen in other countries (county would send out order forms to all units, and administered the sale of the cookies themselves. The only way units got involved in this was through their members buying the things, they weren’t on public sale or anything). They haven’t done it for a number of years though and I never got the impression it was hugely popular.

What did you use to remount the badges? I have collections of cookie patches which will someday be donated to our local Scout museum and wondered the best way to get them to stick to cardstock which I have in binders. Have tried double-stick tape, but it is not effective.

This site is an independent history project and not affiliated, associated, authorized, endorsed by, or in any way officially connected with the Girl Scouts of the USA, or any of its councils. The official and national Girl Scout website can be found at http://www.girlscouts.org. The Girl Scout name as well as related marks, designs, emblems and images are owned by Girl Scouts of the USA.

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